OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2010. Working group “Methodological issues of RAB-regulation” began the discussion from the issue on the account methodology of the capital in the framework of RAB-regulation in terms of seminar “The state regulation of electric grid companies by way of the return on invested capital method (RAB)”, organized by the Federal service by tariffs of Russia with the participation of IDGC of Northwest, JSC.

Deputy Chief of the regulation Department of the Federal service by tariffs of Russia Sergey Sasim and Chief of Department of tariffs making of IDGC of Northwest, JSC Valentin Chesnokov changed opinions by the peculiarities of accounting of the old capital. 

The participants of the seminar also expressed an opinion that the calculation between the grid and marketing companies by the connected capacity solves a problem of forecasting for five years for the calculations according to RAB. “The connected capacity unlike the declared one is confirmed documentary, it will make it possible to avoid disagreements between grid and market companies in the future”, - believes Chief of tariffs making of IDGC of Northwest, JSC Valentin Chesnokov.

The application risk of the connected capacity is non-usage by a consumer of all the scope of the connected capacity. As a way out of the situation the seminar’s participants noted a possibility of sale or transfer by a consumer of unused part of the connected capacity.

The participants of the working group chaired by Deputy Chief of Department of the Federal service by tariffs Denis Milutin, have discussed the regional peculiarities of the application of the return on invested capital method.    

All the participants of the working group noted the imperfection of the legislative base. Among the offers developed by the working group is to pay attention at the absence of the holistic normative base for the timely transfer to the tariff regulation since July 1 of 2010 by the return on invested capital method, to define the establishment principles of power (capacity) balances for 2011-2015 (with or without the last mile), to consider a possibility of the changes introduction in the current legislation as to the structure concretization  of the estimated capital in order to exclude a manipulation possibility by the capital base for the influence on the end tariff, to initiate an introduction of changes as to the application of tenseness levels in the establishment course of the balance of the Federal service by tariffs.

All the branches of IDGC of Northwest, JSC reported on the full technical readiness to the transfer to method RAB and are ready to provide a necessary organizational and technical assistance to the regional regulators by the calculations and materials preparation. We remind that “Novgorodenergo” was the first of the seven branches of IDGC of the North-West which transferred to the new method of the tariff regulation RAB since January 1 of 2010.